2000 Toyota Celica GT from North America - Comments

Clutch went out at 76K, previously owned by two 17 year olds.

Front struts done at 79K.

Aside from that, nothing much!

This particular model (GT, powered by the 1ZZ-FE) is notorious for throwing rods. When I was in high school, I used to drive the crap out of mine, thinking I was hot stuff trying to impress everybody in the parking lot. This car only LOOKS fast, very very underpowered. I wish I had spent more time looking for a first car; I would have gotten the GT-S. Buyer's remorse, what can ya do...

Aside from that, this car is great! Replacement parts are not cheap though, but if you take care of it and treat it right, you'll be fine. Great commuter car, I'm getting at least 30+ to the gallon commuting up and back to school and work everyday. I shift around 2-2.5k and get great mileage; I get it up into 4th gear around the city and just cruise and sip gas.

This model isn't really that quick, at all. FWD is great in the snow... with snow tires! I slid once or twice on worn all-seasons and learned my lesson. Invest in quality snow tires for the winter and put them on all 4 wheels. Believe me, its well worth it.

Recently I bought GT-S rims and had them wrapped in $600 worth of tires. I've got about 90K on the car and I hope that it will last me through college until I get something a little bit faster. But aside from that, great car. Just keep an eye on the oil!!!

I also own a 2000 Toyota Celica GT. The only point I would like to disagree on is that this car is underpowered. It has plenty of power to pull around it's relatively low weight it's just restricted by it's stock parts. By saying this I do not mean that it needs twin turbos and NOS to be quick or powerful, if your going to do that the only thing left of the motor that is Toyota is basically the block and it's no longer really a Celica. The main thing that makes this car sluggish is it's aspiration. The stock airbox is a nightmare and dramatically reduces performance. The second piece to the puzzle is the exhaust. Number one, it is a stock muffler and meant to be quiet, not let the vehicle breath. Number two, there are way more bends hooking up the stock exhaust and exiting it out the back than are needed. I had a local exhaust shop cut out the stock muffler and replace it with a mid grade aftermarket muffler run straight through the suspension on the right hand side for 180 dollars. I then installed an aftermarket air intake and removed the stock airbox and hey presto the thing is a rocket after 4500 rpm. I have had it up to 137 mph with 500 rpm left to redline and it doesn't even think twice.

As far as the oil is concerned, it is a major problem when running natural cheapy oil. I definitely had an oil consumption problem but I think that it is entirely due to the fact that the car houses a relatively high revving engine. I went ahead and switched to the expensive full synthetic with synerlec technology and have had no problems whatsoever with going 5 to 7 thousand miles with no addition of oil before changing it.

Hey, I'm the guy who originally wrote up the review.

You make a good point, but honestly it's a naturally aspirated 4 cylinder 1.8L motor... and although the VVT-i motor can probably take revving to 6-7K, I don't even try it. A few times trying to keep up on the entry ramps to the freeway I'll take it up to 5K, but even then that's pushing it.

I'm just concerned that I'm going to blow a piston/seal or something pushing that much. I wish I had the 2ZZ-GE found in the GT-S with a 6-spd tranny. But this car is a great daily driver, and not having to put premium octane in it is great along with the cheap insurance. Being a college student working two minimum wage jobs, I don't have a whole lot of money for mods, and I really don't have any plans for this car. I just want to get as many miles as I can on it from commuting and then when I get out of school and have a nice job making decent money, I'll pick up something new. Or I may keep it; I'm considering getting a DSM as a project car and keeping the GT as my daily :D.